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John Laumer

Writer / Philadelphia

John Laumer is an independent consultant with recent service with a multinational chemical firm included environmental management systems development, training in product stewardship, product introduction management, scenario planning, and risk assessment.

Before coming to the Philadelphia area from Chicago, John was senior staff member of a regional planning agency, consultant to an EPA Regional Administrator, field biologist, videographer, and many other near-forgotten things.

As a young man, John studied environmental science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

John’s last name is embedded in the Catholic tradition going back as far as the year 590, although he, early on, found himself alienated from its dominionist traditions, excommunicating himself near the end of his 6th grade year.

Pennsylvania is where the first commercial oil well was developed - using a log cabin-style rig housing (as pictured). There were some spills and fires but the industry matured technologically, moved to Texas, and the rest is

Algal bloom in village river. Adapted from photo "Taken in a small village in mountains near Chengdu, Sichuan, China." Image credit:WIkipedia
An earth day perspective. High-profile environmental issues resolve slowly, as changing perspectives dawn on

All manner of wonderful graphics are being created from the newly-available 2010 US Census data. A new sort of nuclear family, for example, is portrayed with this mouse-over map showing the population density

Syngenta, Swiss manufacturer of the herbicide Atrazine (very popular with US farmers but banned in Europe) and the widely-used fungicides Bravo and Daconil (formulations of chlorothalonil, a molecule similar to other

"The Last Spike" which originally linked the nation in commerce. Image credit:National Park Service
The Hill reports that "Amtrak had more riders in March than it has had in any March in its 40 years of existence, the company said Thursday. There were

Dangerous chicken wire chemicals you need to know about. Image credit:Wikipedia
Into the daylight. The fracking industry has declared it's ready to totally change direction from the course set by former VP Dick Cheney (which was to hide from the public,